The Overarching Story
The main focus of Every Star in the Universe is that it's a giant multi-crossover adventure, with individual worlds based on various media as the campaigns (mostly video games). The heroes are all brought together to save these worlds from themselves, all the while waiting to find a way to undo the damage a certain necromancer has done. The Mortal Realm (Fallcrest) 4e Red Box Starter Kit The story begins outside of Malareth's underground lair near the town of Fallcrest. After a man named Malareth stole an item from a dwarf named Traevus, Aelar was petitioned to form a party and go after him, picking up Numan at the bar, and being "accompanied" by Terrios. Though each member of the team had their own agendas, the mission was carried out and Malareth was killed. While Terrios took the body to the Bounty Hunter's Guild for his reward, Numan and Aelar returned the stolen item to Traveus, who rewarded them with a key he'd gotten from Malareth. He explained that the transaction was the result of a misunderstanding, that Malareth thought he was someone else and traded the items without thinking. Nevertheless, the heroes opted to find the door the key went to. The next morning, Terrios set out to claim the bounty on the head of a scientist hiding out in nearby mine. He was unknowingly followed by Aelar and Numan, who were seeking the door the key went to. They met up in the mine, and agreed to work together once again. After being confronted by strange metal men, they encountered Czech, a dwarf who retaliated violently. Upon his own defeat, he threatened to blow the place up as a last ditch effort, but was stopped by his captain, Rend Z. Vous. After witnessing the heroes' above average strength, and realizing the secrecy of his base had been tarnished, he offered them a position among his crew, offering to take them to many other worlds on grand adventures. Each following his own desires, the heroes accepted. Vous was the captain of the Every Star Station, an intergalactic ship used to travel from one world to another. Vous explained that every world possessed two unseen values: harmony and chaos. If either of these values should outclass the other, a logic error within the world's being would occur. With its existence no longer possible, the world would cancel itself out, disappearing from existence and taking with it all of the memories anyone ever had of it. It is the Every Star crew's job to make sure that harmony and chaos remain in balance, lest more worlds suffer such a fate. Shinaclestra of the Colossus The heroes' first mission takes them to Shinaclestra, a world in the Feywild universe. Their mission was to defeat and seal away a dark god named Dormin, who'd infected the villagers with a disease because they no longer worshipped him. With the aid of Vous, Dormin was defeated, and his spirit was contained within the undead body of Malareth, who turned out to be one of Vous's highest ranking crew members. The containment of Dormin was stressing and painful, but the task was punishment for being careless about the whereabouts of Every Star's hideout. Malareth was put in charge of the heroes, and would aid them in sealing away the fragments of Dormin's spirit. Accompanied by a soldier named Dyren, the heroes went from location to location, defeating the monsters (colossi) born from Dormin's spirit so that Malareth could seal them inside. Throughout the journey, the heroes learned of Malareth's true cruelty, as he tortured the animals used to create the colossi. It wasn't long before he revealed that he was responsible for the disappearance of Terrios's home and family some years ago, and that he had captured them all as data for his own sick collection. He demonstrated his lack of empathy by doing the same thing to Dyren's village. When only one fragment of Dormin remained within Malareth's body, he threatened to kill the heroes and keep it for himself to become immortal. But its power ultimately became too much for him to bear, and he was forced into becoming the final colossus, fixed in place for eternity, undying and alone. With Malareth defeated, and Dormin sealed away for good, Dyren decided that he was no longer needed among his own people and joined the Every Star crew, though as part of different unit than the heroes. The Mortal Realm (Winterhaven) on the Shadowfell The heroes' second mission was to return to their homeworld in order to stop a different necromancer named Kalarel from opening a link between the Mortal Realm and the Shadowfell. This portal would allow the dark god Orcus to invade, a catastrophic situation at the least. Upon returning to Fallcrest, Aelar bumps into his long-lost brother Rolen. Rolen had spent several years in the woods as a hunter along with his warforged friend, Relic. Seeing it as an opportunity for them to catch up, the heroes invited the two of them to join their mission. Terrios, on the other hand, blew off the mission to search for bounty-hunting opportunities, and thus did not meet Kalarel. He would be unsuccessful, and would resign himself to his new job as a world-hopper. In Winterhaven, Aelar easily managed to track the location of Kalarel's keep by following one of his spies. While infiltrating the keep, they bump into Sampson, a dragonborn who'd been kicked out his parents' home. Realizing he needed their help, he joined the group. Kalarel was soon found and defeated, but before he could be killed or captured, the very portal he'd worked so hard to build sucked him in, on a one-way ticket to the Shadowfell. Back in Fallcrest, Aelar said goodbye to Rolen and Relic and parted ways with them. However, before Sampson could leave, he was accidentally teleported to the Every Star Station along with the heroes. Deciding he had no place in the Mortal Realm anyway, he became a permanent crew member. Seiken Fantasy Adventure Almost immediately following the heroes' return, they were sent on a last-minute mission to an uncharted universe called Xineerauqs. A young and very important member of Every Star named Rynew had gotten lost in a world called Seiken, which she had spontaneously selected in her never-ending search for her long-lost homeworld. Only a day after their arrival, they find Rynew being defended by a young renegade goblin named Vigton, who is coaxed into continuing his protection of her. Upon arriving in the town of Wendel, they receive a message from Vous saying that there is only one point in Seiken where they may be brought back to the Station, but that the link can only be kept up for 30 days. If they can't make it to that point without Rynew by then, they will be trapped there forever. However, this proves difficult, as the Glaive Empire kidnaps Rynew so they can use her power over water to fulfill their goals. In their travels, Sampson "rescues" a chicken from a farm and takes a strong liking to him. The chicken is named Cluckles, and actually manages to be a valuable asset throughout the journey. Eventually, Dark Lord, Julius, and every other member of the Empire are defeated, and Rynew is returned safely to Vous. The Ninth Bastion Souls After three successful missions aboard the Every Star, Vous decides to arrange a meeting with The Imperator, ruler of the universe, in order for the heroes to gain his approval. Though they were all accepted by the gold titan, he did express a minor amount of concern regarding the presence of a minotaur (Terrios) in the group. Deciding it would be more useful to the heroes as a warrior, Czech borrows Cluckles and performs an experiment on him, transforming the chicken into a humanoid with intelligence almost equal to that of a human. He then joins the heroes as a permanent party member. Before being sent on their next mission, the heroes are introduced to and joined by one of Vous's lieutenants, Allegretto, who is assigned as the leader of the group due solely to his high rank. It doesn't take long for the heroes to get killed after arriving in the Elemental Chaos's Ninth Bastion, though they very shortly awaken amongst the undead, locked in a cell with others like them. In their prison cells, they become temporarily acquainted with a doppleganger named Belial. But almost immediately after, everyone in the group forgets about him at the exact same moment, causing him to be erased from existence. After escaping the asylum, they meet a knight who explains everything about the world in which he lives, and that the only way to break the curse of the undead is to defeat Lord Gwyn. With this goal in mind, the heroes found and rang the two bells needed to obtain the Lordvessel, which granted them access to Gwyn's lair. With the help of Gwyn's own son Solaire, the heroes easily defeat him and are restored to life. Ivalice Fantasy XII After taking a much-needed vacation, the heroes are once again presented with a mission, this time to the dark Shadowfell. Numan, however, refuses to visit that world for his own personal reasons, and Vous understands, though the mission still needs to be completed. He decides to split the party in two, sending one half on the all-important Shadowfell mission, and sending the other half (which includes Numan) to a new world discovered within Xineerauqs: Ivalice. Numan, Aelar, and Cluckles are sent on an assassination mission: to find and kill a military genius whose actions will eventually cause world peace, which will in turn cause an overflow of harmony and erase the world. They soon determine that the man they are after is Vayne Solidor, son of Emperor Gramis and Lord Consul of Rabanstre, a city Vayne's army had stolen control of two years back. Princess Ashe, the true heir to Rabanastre's throne, joins the heroes in her mission to reclaim it. To earn some extra money, the heroes join a Hunt Club, and through this eventually run into a multi-armed samurai named Gilgamesh. They soon learn that Gilgamesh is actually a member of the Every Star crew, but that he blows off this occupation to do his own thing. At several points in the journey, Cluckles is separated from the others and sees things the others don't, including the amnestic survival of Judge Ghis. At Mt. Bur-Omisace, Cluckles is attacked by a powerful and mysterious swordsman, who not only knew about Sampson, but was also in possession of a MUTA, the device used by the Every Star crew to teleport to and from it. In Archades, Cluckles foolishly followed Gilgamesh into the Interdimensional Rift, an act that has already begun to warp the fabric of his very being. Throughout the mission, the heroes encountered a skeletal, red-cloaked being who seemed to be possessing various people. They also learned of Dr. Cid, a scientist who'd apparently revolutionized the technology of the world eight years ago when he returned from a place called Giruvegan, a completely different person than he was before. The journey came to a pause in the Draklor Laboratory, when the heroes again encountered the red-cloaked skeleton, as well as met "Dr. Cid" for the first time. Though their Ivalician allies saw the man as the famous Dr. Cid, the heroes easily saw through the ruse and recognized him for who he truly was. Letherna Lament of Innocence Allegretto, Sampson, Terrios, and Vigton are sent to the Shadowfell to find and destroy the portal that Kalarel attempted to create before. There, they are guided out of a cursed forest by an old man named Rinaldo, who explains the situation to them. They learn that the culprit they are searching for is none other than Kalarel himself, for he had survived their previous encounter, somehow became a Vampire Lord, and is now seeking vengeance. In order to reach him however, the heroes will need to break five seals within Kalarel's new castle. Ivalice Fantasy XII (Continued)